Rail-joint and method of forming same



( o Model.)

H. W. FALK. RAIL JOINT AND METHOD OF FORMING SAME. v

No. 558,269; Patented Apr. 14, 1896.

WITNESSES INVENTOE',

ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERMAN IV. FALK, OF MILWAUKEE, IVISOONSIN.

RAIL-JOINTAND METHOD OF FORMING SAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent NO. 558,269, dated April 14, 1896.

Application filed July 1,1895. Serial No. 554,607. (No model.)

To 00% whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMAN WV. FALK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Milwaukee, county of Milwaukee, State of VVisconsin, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Rail-Joints and Method of Forming the Same; and I declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in the construction of joints between the adjacent ends of railway-rails, and also to an improved method of forming said joints; and my said invention consists in the matters hereinafter described, and pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a pair of rail ends to which my improved form of joint has been applied. Fig.2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the joint, showing the rail ends in elevation. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view of the same, taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

Referring by letter to the drawings, .A A designate a pair of rail ends, and B a body of metal cast upon and around said rail ends.

In preparing the rail ends for joining I coat or cover the end of one of the rails with a coverin g a of suitable material-such as graphite, fine sand, or the likeso as to prevent the molten metal from adhering or fusing thereto when it is cast upon or around the rail ends. I then place a mold 0 around the rail ends to be joined, as in Fig. 1. One or more pins or rods D D are then tight-wedged or driven into the bolt-holes in the end of the rail A,

allowing said pins or rods to project consid-.

erably beyond the sides of the web of the rail end, as in Fig. 3. Upon these pins I arrange suitable sand cores d d, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, for preventing contact of the molten metal therewith.

As shown more particularly in Fig. 1, the mold C is made deeper and larger adjacent to the end which surrounds the end of the rail A than it is adjacent to the end which surrounds the rail A, so that in the operathe mold until the rails have become sufficiently heated to obtain fusion between the rail A and the metal body 13.

Prior to placing the mold 0 upon the rail ends the end of the rail A is prepared for fusion either by being brightened or cleaned or by theapplication to its surfaces of a suitable flux. It follows, therefore, that when the body B of metal is cast upon the rail ends and the temperature of said rail ends is raised to the proper degree said metal body will be fused directly to the surfaces of the end of the rail A, and by reason of the interposed coating a upon the end of the rail A said metal will be effectually prevented from adhering or fusing to the surfaces of said rail A, while at the same time said metal will flow around and closely conform to the end of the rail A. The metal is preferably permitted to flow through the bolt-holes in the end of rail A, as shown in Fig. 2, so as to connect and reinforce the cast metal upon opposite sides of the rail end.

The sand cores (Z d are conveniently somewhat elongated in oross-section, as shown in the drawings, so as to form somewhat oblong apertures in the sides of the cast-metal body which surrounds the end of the rail A. By this means the cast metal is permanently fused to one rail end, while being prevented from fusing or adhering to the other rail end.

The metal, however, flowing closely around the end of the rail A forms a very firm support therefor, while at the same time permitting of a slight degree of longitudinal movement of said rail end within the casting. The oblong holes formed in the casting by the cores d d serve to permit of a slight movement of the pins or rods D D therein until said movement is arrested by the engagement of said pins or rods with the ends of said apertures in an obvious manner. The openings thus formed are made of sufficient size to permit of a degree of longitudinal movement of the rail A to accommodate the expansion and contraction of the rails under extreme degrees of heat and cold.

It will be seen that the joint formed as above described serves to permanently unite the rail ends, while permitting the longitudinal movements thereof incident to expansion and contraction of the rails. It will also be seen that while the rail A is permitted to move longitudinally it Willbe very firmly and unyieldingly supported in perfect alinement with the rail A and will be prevented from either rising or sagging or shifting laterally.

By my improvement, therefore, I am e11- abled to form very strong, durable, and satisfactory joints between the rail ends, which serve to retain said rail ends in perfect and permanent alinement, while permitting of suffieient longitudinal movement of either or both rails to accommodate the expansion or contraction under extreme degrees of heat and cold. Of course I. may obtain the same results by making the pins or rods movable within the apertures in the end of the rail A and rigid within the apertures in the castmetal body, it being only necessary that the engagement of said pins with one of said parts should be movable. v

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. In a rail-joint, the combination with a pair of rail ends of a body of metal cast around the lower portions of both of said rail ends, and united to one of said ends by fusion, but not united to the other rail end, transverse pins or rods extending through said cast-metal body and the latter rail end, and tightly fitting within apertures in one of said parts, but loose in the other, substantially as described.

2. A method of joining rail ends consisting in preparing one of a pair of rail ends for fusion, and covering or protecting the other rail end to prevent fusion, and casting a body of metal around and beneath both of said rail ends, and uniting said metal directly to the surfaces of the first-mentioned rail end by fusion, substantially as described.

3. A method of joining rail ends consisting in preparing one of a pair of rail ends for fusion, covering or protecting the other end against fusion, securing transverse pins or rods in said latter rail end, casting a body of metal around and beneath both rail ends, and uniting the same to the first-mentioned rail end by fusion, and forming elongated apertures in said metal body for the reception of said transverse pins or rods, substantially as described.

at. A method of joining rail ends consisting in preparing one of a pair of rail ends for fusion, applying a protective covering or coating to the other rail end, securing transverse pins or rods in said latter rail end, placing cores upon the ends of said pins or rods, forming or adjusting a mold around and beneath said rail ends, and finally pouring molten metal into said mold so as to surround the lower portions of both of said rail ends, and to become fused to the first-mentioned rail end, and so as to conform closely to the surfaces of the other rail end without adhering thereto, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I sign this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

HERMAN W. FALK. iVitnesses:

J OHN E. WILEs, M. M. WILEs. 

